


Boy Next Door

by swtltlmrvlgrl



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Steve Rogers - Fandom, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Nurse Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers AU - Freeform, Steve Rogers Neighbor, steve rogers fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 17:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13815987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swtltlmrvlgrl/pseuds/swtltlmrvlgrl
Summary: You left your keys to your apartment, so you decided to sleep at the hallway. Only to find yourself waking up in a room that looks like your apartment.





	1. Boy Next Door (Part 1)

The hot coffee flowing through your throat is probably the only reason why you still have the strength to walk your way home from work. The company you’re working at is handling this big project and you’ve been working overtime since last month. Thankfully enough, tomorrow will be the last day of the overtime work (without pay by the way).

You arrive at the apartment building; felling giddy and excited to finally get that two hours’ worth of sleep that you desperately need. The elevator transports you to the 3rd floor of the building. As you walk towards your apartment door, you scramble through your bag to get a hold of your keys – only to find out that they’re not where they’re supposed to be. You searched and searched but the keys were nowhere to be seen.

You tried picking the lock with the hairpin - it did nothing but prove that the things you saw in the movies weren’t real. You’re exhausted, you’re sleepy, it’s 2 in the morning and your landlord won’t be back until 8 a.m. for the spare keys.

 _Should I just go back to the office?_ The mere thought of spending an extra hour at the office and the travel time made you more exhausted. But you are left with no choice but to...

_Sleep in the hallway?_

You looked left and then right.

_I mean, I’ll be sleeping for only an hour or two and it’s too early in the morning so no one can see me sleeping here so..._

After a few seconds of contemplating, you sit on the carpeted floor of your apartment’s hallway and you put your back against your apartment door. In a matter of seconds, you’re fast asleep and travelling around dreamland - totally unaware of the fact that you forgot to set the alarm on your phone

 

As a nurse, Steve is pretty much used to what the early mornings look like. Aside from the fact that he can’t do his usual sunrise viewing because his shift ended early, everything’s pretty much the same... or that’s what he thought until he saw a body lying on the door of the apartment unit beside his. An immediate (and normal) response would be to ignore the body ‘cause maybe she just had too much to drink. But he was a nurse and he can’t really a lying body when he sees one.

He checked the pulse. Normal. He checked the breathing. Normal. He also checked if you smelled like alcohol. You didn’t. As a matter of fact, you smelled like coffee. He tried to wake you up but after a few attempts and seeing that you were nowhere near waking up, he gave up. He stands up and looked at you.

_I can’t just leave her here._

But bringing a sleeping woman in his apartment doesn’t make him comfortable either. It was a choice between his comfort (and fear of what your reaction would be in waking up in a different room with a guy) or your safety.

Of course he chose the latter.

 

_Bright._

The brightness from somewhere outside the lids of your eyes, pushes its way through your consciousness and tries to wake you up. Your exhaustion didn’t give in to its demands and bargained for a few more minutes. The pillows on your sofa were too soft for you to resist.

If your thoughts had a voice, it definitely screamed on your face when you suddenly realized that it shouldn’t be bright. 4 A.M. shouldn’t be bright.  You should’ve woken up before the sun actually rose. You swiftly prompt up to run to your room when you stepped on something soft and ... irregular, and before you can even look at it, the irregularly shaped creature on the floor, it made a noise.

With all your weight through the center of your feet and onto _the thing_ on the floor, you jumped out of the sofa. Since you’re a huge klutz (especially in situations like this), you fell down and slipped on top of _the thing_. It’s response to your weight on it was a huge grunt of pain.

After realizing _the thing_ wasn’t an ‘it’ but a ‘him’, you immediately pushed yourself up and went as far away from him as possible.

“Who are you?” you asked. “What are you doing in my – ‘’

You stopped for a moment and looked around - you to let your environment sink in. It definitely _looks_ like your apartment unit, but is definitely not _your_ apartment.

“This – isn’t my apartment. Wha – where –? ”

Before you can even add another question to your series of incomprehensible questions, the digits on the clock hanging on the wall makes you shift to a more impending doom.

8:51 A.M.

 “Oh my god. I’m late!” you looked at the person that you just stepped a few moments ago. “I’m late! I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” You picked up what seems like your bag and went straight out the door. You looked left and then right.

 _This is my apartment floor. And this..._ you walk towards the door a few steps away... _is my apartment_.

But you had no time to think of anything anymore; you sprinted and entered the elevator. You used the time inside the elevator to breathe, compartmentalize your thoughts and to prepare yourself for the series of screams and angry officemates that will greet you in a short while.

 _I should’ve slept at the office_.


	2. Boy Next Door (Part 2)

_This is awkward._

A few minutes ago you thought of nothing but go to bed, eat and sleep a lot after 16 hours of working but now, you’re thinking about reasons why you’re stuck inside a broken elevator with the number one guy that you don’t want to be with in a situation like this.

With your back facing the man, you mentally cursed at your phone and its lack of signal, but deep inside you know that even if you had the signal you don’t know who to contact in a situation like this.

“I – uhm – “ you heard him say, “I already contacted the maintenance from the hospital I work at. They’ll be here in a few.”

You clear your throat to give yourself time to think of a good response. “You have a signal?”

 _‘You have a signal?’ YOU HAVE A SIGNAL?? Really, Y/N?  REALLY?,_ you thought, while you mentally punched yourself in the face at how lame your question was.

Totally unaware of your internal warfare, he looked at his phone and answered. “Yes, I have signal. Do you have someone you want to contact?”

You shook your head. “No, but thanks.”

Silence.

Awkward Silence.

Extremely Awkward Silence.

You’re positive that a few moments ago you had enough strength to properly face him, but all that strength is now long gone and you are left with nothing but embarrassment, especially when _the thing_ that happened during your first meeting was playing vividly on your head.

You hear him clear his throat. “The maintenance guy said he’d arrive here a little later than expected, maybe an hour or two.”

 “Okay.”

_AN HOUR? OR TWO?? I WON’T EVEN LAST ANOTHER FIVE MINUTES IN THIS AWKWARD SITUATION._

If you’re stuck in an elevator with a person for at least an hour, not talking with each other will probably make the waiting time feel 10 times as much, and waiting is _not_ your forte. You took a deep breath and mustered up all the courage, wisdom, strength and everything that you might need to start a conversation with him. You turned your body around to face him.

“I’m sorry!”

You don’t know if it’s the acoustics of the elevator, or whatever, but you’re sure you heard a male voice. And the face of the man in front of you mirrors the same expression that you have right now. _Great, another awkward situation._   It would’ve been easier if you were in a cheesy rom – com movie, where you just have to say ‘You go first’ and he responds ‘No, you go first’, but no one’s saying anything so you’re again in a more awkward situation.

Before you could say anything, he smirked and then his smirk evolved into a chuckle and to a small laugh.

“You’re laughing at how awkward we are right now, aren’t you?” You said, with a small smile on your face.

“Yes, and this pretty much explains why we – even though we’re neighbors – haven’t met yet. I’m Steve, by the way.”

He stretched his hands towards you and you shake it. “I’m Y/N.” You paused. “I really have to let this out, so – I’m so sorry, Steve about the whole fiasco that happened this morning or was it yesterday morning?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry, too. I should’ve woken you up before I brought you in to my apartment.”

“I’m kind of a heavy sleeper so – but really you shouldn’t apologize I should be thanking you, instead. You were kind enough to accommodate me. I could’ve been a serial killer or something.”

“Oh wait. You weren’t? I thought you were trying to kill me when you stepped on me.”

“I was that obvious, huh? Good thing you didn’t call the cops.” You chuckled.

“I would’ve but I was too busy fixing my broken bones.” He retorted.

Steve laughs and you laugh with him and the situation that was once so tense and awkward became a friendlier one. You chatted a little more and had a lot of sarcastic banter.  It took you only a few minutes and few more banters to make you feel that you and Steve connect on a weird spiritual level and to feel as if you’ve known here for years. As time passed, you regretted the fact that it took you one broken elevator to get to know your neighbor, but maybe you were just really destined to meet this way. 

“By the way, I hope you don’t mind me asking and I know this is late but, why WERE you sleeping outside our apartment? Did your husband kick you out or something?”

You chuckle. “No, I don’t have a husband. I just left my keys –“ A small thud from the outside cut you off and slowly the gap in between the two doors of the elevator widens and you can see a man, who immediately greeted Steve.

“Hey, Steve! Stuck in the elevator again?” Then the man suddenly became of your presence. “Oh. But not alone this time, huh?”

“Yeah. Sam, this is Y/N, my neighbor. Y/N, this is Sam.”

You extended your hand, and Sam gave you a handshake. “Nice to meet you, Sam.”

“Nice to meet you too, Y/N.” He smiled. “Listen. I would love to talk more but I still have something to fix at the hospital so, I gotta go.”

“Steve.”

“Sam. Thanks again.”

After watching Sam leave, the two of you walk towards our respective houses.

“We should do this again, you know.” Steve said.

“Do what? Get stuck in an elevator?” You said and laughed and Steve laughed with you. “If it means laughing like this again, sign me in.”

 

_Ten minutes._

Ten minutes had already passed and Steve is sitting on his Sofa with two blankets and a pillow in his hand. You tried so hard to pretend, but Steve noticed your sudden change of expression after you told him that you left your keys in your apartment. If his gut feel was right, you had no chance to borrow the landlord’s spare keys. He should’ve just invited you in, but you put in so much effort to not tell him that you still don’t have the keys. Plus, he wants to spare you from the embarrassment and all.

He walks towards the front door and looked at the hallway decorated with a sleeping Y/N. He smiles at himself at the image of you sleeping. It felt like a deja vu to him, especially when you’re still wearing the same set of clothes from yesterday. He smiles at the thought of how fast yesterday morning happened and how fast it happened again.

Everything looks the same as yesterday. But this time, there will be no attempts of waking you up or bringing you in to his apartment. There will just be you sleeping in the hallway, wrapped around his blanket and him sleeping right next to you.

**Author's Note:**

> This is for @bionic-bucky-b ‘s 5k AU drabble challenge! CONGRATULATIOOOONS! Yey. I like joining challenges like this because it gives me a reason and an excuse to write fics. Plus, being given a topic and doing anything to relate to that the topic is enjoyable for me. Hehehe. Anyways, I chose the prompt ‘Neighbor’ thus the title. (I’m sorry the title sounds so cliche, I can’t think of anything else tbh) So I hope you enjoy!!


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